Stained English Hacienda Nightclub Urinals Used By Music Legends Up For Auction
Popular English club Manchester's Hacienda used to be a night out spot where the most prominent music artists have performed like Madonna and The Smiths. And guess which part of it is up for auction? The urinals!
The seller of the urinals, Mike Shepherd, said that he got it from an auction held at the Hacienda way back in 2001. He gave his friend some money with a reminder that he should get him something useful from the auction. His friend bought the urinals while others got themselves some bricks and several posters.
Mr Shepherd who works as a furniture maker turned the urinals into a cabinet where he can place his other memorabilia items on display. The weird part? He did not dare clean the urinals from the time they were bought.
According to the 48-year-old owner of the urinals, the stains are sentimental and would add value as it pays tribute to the music history that happened in the famed nightclub.
His complete collection also features posters with popular artists' signatures, several DVDs and other records. He put it up for the eBay auction with a price of £15,000 or about $23,000 to start with. Mr Shepherd's reason for selling is that he has to transfer to another home come 2014.
The Hacienda Club was founded by Tony Wilson, a big boss in the record label industry along with New Order. It opened its doors in 1983 while the electronic band, New Order served as its directors. Even if the club was packed every night, it still ended up in closure by 1997. Rumoured problems that the Manchester's Hacienda club faced include gang wars and drug issues. It eventually became stuck in debt worth millions of pounds.
It was in Hacienda that Madonna performed for the British audience for the first time in 1984. The Smiths with lead singer Morrissey also played in the club in 1983. Its music performances were tagged as Madchester from the late 80s and up to the early 90s with key acts including Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses.